Trip Report
Wife and I celebrated 10 years of being a couple with our first trip to Japan. We have been looking forward to and planning this trip for close to 3 years. I definitely went a little crazy with planning out the details of the itinerary, but in retrospect I am really proud of the experience we were able to have. I used Apple Numbers to build a color-coded itinerary sheet. This sheet was what we used to plan out the activities and worked well as a quick reference while in Japan. Anyway, here is the trip report:
April 3rd:
Arrive at Haneda from LAX at 5 a.m. Was on the train by 6:15am. We dropped our bags off at our hotel in Shinjuku, then headed for the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. This was a great way to start the trip as the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and absolutely gorgeous. Then we headed to Shibuya where we got to take in typical tourist spots. We went to Mag8 Rooftop Lounge and got a great view of Shibuya Crossing. While in Shibuya we got new glasses at JINS which was very easy and affordable; however, we would have to return in the final leg of our trip to pick up the glasses. Various shopping while walking around Shibuya as well, including Uniqlo and GU where we bought clothing essentials for our trip (packed only a backpack each with a couple of outfits). Ended the day around 10pm. Exhaustion was heavily outweighed by excitement.
April 4th:
At 11am we had a reservation at Glanta to make wedding bands to celebrate our milestone. Up to this point, I had been wearing a tungsten carbide ring, and this was a cool way to get an actual nice gold ring and be able to claim I “made” it. The experience basically involved you sizing, hammering a pattern, and polishing the ring. Then they engrave the inside with whatever you want. Was expensive, but worth it for us. Afterwards, explored Harajuku and did more shopping. Made our way back to our base area of Shinjuku which we walked around a bit before bed around 10:30pm.
April 5th:
Went to the Tokyo City Flea Market at 10am where there was a surprising number of tourists. We thought since this place was further out of the city center there would be more locals, but that was not the case. Tons of vendors and a cool place to check out, but we ended up leaving after about an hour. Took the train to Akihabara to explore a bit. I wish we would have given ourselves more time to explore Akihabara this day as we ended up only exploring every floor of Yodobashi Akiba and grabbing a bite at Denny’s. We couldn’t spend much time in Akihabara as we had a reservation at 5pm for a jeans-making experience at Betty Smith Ebisu. This was a cool little experience where they size you into selvedge denim off their racks and then guide you in selecting and installing the front pocket rivets and button. I am no denim head, but this place felt special. We then returned to Shibuya for some shopping, including Mega Don Quixote, then went back to the hotel around 9:30.
April 6th:
Started the day with a trip to Sanrio Puroland. This place felt like a fever dream, but it was cute to see how happy everyone was seeing their favorite characters. From there, we went to Shimokitazawa, Koenjikita, and Nakano Broadway for vintage shopping. The obsession with American culture was really starting to hit me here. It’s like so many shops are Americana-forward, and it felt a bit opposite of what I was expecting. Picked up the latest issue of Shonen Jump, which includes One Piece chapter 1179, felt like such a legendary chapter to be able to pick up on release in Japan. Returned to Shinjuku, hit some balls at a nearby batting cage, went bowling, and did karaoke for a really fun night.
April 7th:
My wife had a hair appointment in Harajuku this morning, so I spent the time exploring Meiji Jingu and Yoyogi Park. This was a really serene change of pace so close to the hectic nature of Takeshita Street. Since my wife was getting her hair bleached and dyed, I really took my time just strolling along, and it was a lovely way to take in all the scenery. We did some shopping around Harajuku after my wife’s hair appointment, then returned to Shinjuku where my wife had a nail appointment. This time I chose to chill at the hotel as I was pretty tired. We went out to Ichiran ramen, which was a great experience and only had to wait in line for about 20 minutes, which seemed like not too bad compared to all the other times we walked past one with a mile-long line.
April 8th:
We had reservations for 3 different teamLab exhibits for the trip, and this morning we went to Borderless, which was a fun experience. The tea room was a particularly cool moment. This was our ‘Central Tokyo’ day, so we walked around Hie Shrine, Hibiya Park, and then got lost trying to find a way into the Imperial Palace. I should have done more research before here as we kept walking long ass distances around the Palace trying to find a way in. Finally, we found the Eastern Garden area to stroll around and admire. The weather was nice, and the area around the Palace is so wide and open while surrounded by tall city buildings. Super cool scenery. Then we walked to Tokyo Station and Tokyo Character Street.
April 9th:
Early morning Shinkansen ride to Osaka for the next leg of our trip. We had a reservation for tebori tattoos at Three Tides Tattoo for 11am and that process took about 4 hours for the both of us total. We then checked into our hotel and headed out for a Hanshin Tigers game. I read that you can just walk up to the box office to buy tickets the same day, but that was not our experience. We walked up to this Thursday night rainy game, and it was sold out. I was super disappointed, but just as I was about to give up, I found tickets online that I easily bought and was able to get in. This was a really cool and special experience. For a weekday rainy game, it was absolutely packed, and the energy was amazing. The whole crowd is into the game, and there are organized chants for seemingly every situation in the game. The game got suspended due to rain in the 7th inning, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
April 10th:
This morning we headed to the Osaka Aquarium, which is really well designed in a spiral around the giant whale shark tank. Afterwards, we headed to Universal Studios Japan. We have a family connection that got us front-of-the-line access, which obviously saved us a bunch of time getting through several rides in just 5 hours of park time. We spent the night exploring around Dotonbori before heading back to the hotel.
April 11th:
We explored the Shinsekai area and bought a chef’s knife at Tower Knives, where the sales people were so kind and helpful. They even bust out a carrot and tomato for you to test the knife you’re interested in. We then took the train up to Kyoto to check in to our hotel. We stayed at Inari Ohan, which was a special treat as it’s a full guest house in traditional Japanese styling. This was the hotel highlight of the trip for sure. We had a reservation for teamLab Biovortex at 7 p.m. This was our favorite of the three teamLabs we visited in Japan.
April 12th:
Started the morning with walking the Philosopher’s Path from Ginkaku-ji to Nanzen-ji. Then, strolled around the Gion area and Nishiki Market.
April 13th:
Ghibli Park day trip. Took the Shinkansen to Nagoya and made our way out to the park. The theming was really amazing here as such a large area was thoughtfully converted into Ghibli theming. This was a fun and worthwhile experience for us. We got dinner in Nagoya before heading back to Kyoto.
April 14th:
Our hotel was in Inari, so we could just walk to Fushimi Inari. We thought 8 a.m. would be fairly clear, but it was still packed with people. I can’t imagine what it would be like if we went later in the day. It did lighten up at the top, but until then it was hard to take in the scenery with what felt like walking through a train station during rush hour. Afterwards, took a 11:30 a.m. Shinkansen to Tokyo for our final leg of the trip. Checked in at our hotel in Asakusa, then took the train across Tokyo to Shibuya to pick up our glasses. Since we traveled all the way across the city, we decided to spend some time exploring Shibuya again before returning to Asakusa.
April 15th:
Got breakfast at a café then strolled around Ueno Park and the Tokyo National Museum. After that, we walked over to Kappabashi to look around at the endless kitchen goods. Returned to Asakusa a bit early to do laundry and grab some food.
April 16th:
Went to DisneySea. I don’t know why I thought this would be a good idea as neither my wife nor I are into Disney very much. We have had good experiences at Disneyland in the past, but as two adults in their late 20s with no kids, this was the worst way to spend a day in Japan for me. The lines were very long for everything. We cut our losses after 5 hours and a measly 3 rides. We are big One Piece fans and realized there is a special Mugiwara store in Harajuku we missed, so we headed back to Harajuku to check it out and do some additional shopping in the area.
April 17th:
Last day in Japan. Checked out of the hotel, but checked our bags with the front desk while we spent the day out before our late 12:30 a.m. flight. Headed to teamLab Planets at 11 a.m. to check it out and walked away concluding it was the least enjoyable of the 3 we visited. Perhaps it was due to already seeing several of the artworks, but the water features of Planets were pretty neat. Next, we went to Small Worlds Miniatures Museum. This museum was pretty cool to see, but I wouldn’t make a special trip to the area just for it unless you have that special interest. From there, we went to Tokyo Salamachi to explore and shop before our 6 p.m. reservation for the Tokyo Skytree observation decks. It was really cool to see the view transition from daytime to nighttime, but there was a bit of haze in the air so we couldn’t see Mt. Fuji. The observation decks were also absolutely packed. We got a drink and dessert at the café with a bar table looking right out the window overlooking Tokyo. This was a really nice way to cap off the trip. After this, we headed to the airport and made our way back to Los Angeles.
by NSEWjack